Heard, or read, not long ago someone (frmr congresscritter? Brain blank) saying they thought part of the super-partisan hatefulness on Capitol Hill today, compared to say 15 – 20 yrs ago, was that most no longer bring their families with them. Instead they travel home every weekend (also to campaign/raise money/see constituents) and are not around to socialize with each other, therefore never really get to know people in other party. When they had more social contact evenings and weekends, they were less likely to demonize the “other” side the way they do today.
So, living in office because they’re maintaining the family back home, instead of selling the district home and buying/renting in DC, bringing the family and settling them in. Even on $200k, at DC prices, handling 2 mortgages could be difficult.
Not saying I approve; when I took my job in rural Okla and noticed the shiny new (renovated storefront) office had a shower, I had a bad feeling about expectations… As it happened, we opened at height of gas patch boom of the early ’80′s, housing was tought to find, and our new paralegal (we were all new, it was a newly opened office) did live there several weeks til she found an affordable place.
Republican bigwigs vote for a new party chairman Friday. With Michael Steele on the ropes, who’s likely to emerge as top dog? The Daily Beast previews the contenders. Plus, what black Republicans think about Steele.
Republican National Committee members are gathering in Michael Steele’s backyard Friday afternoon, hunkering down in a Maryland hotel to decide the fate of the controversial RNC leader. But the former Maryland lieutenant governor has little reason to feel comfortable, even with the home cooking.
Clockwise, from top left: Maria Cino, Saul Anuzis, Ann Wagner, and Reince Priebus.
According to early vote counts, Steele is on his way out the door. During his two years at the helm of the GOP fundraising machine, the 52-year-old sometime lawyer has been criticized by party elders for turning the RNC into a den of debt and delinquency. Remember that whole West Hollywood sex club fiasco?
Well, the 168 RNC members voting today certainly do. Here are the leading candidates to replace Steele. All are party insiders with deep experience in Republican organizing.
Reince Priebus
Reince Priebus, the Wisconsin Republican Party chairman, likely presents the strongest inside challenge to Steele. In December, Priebus resigned from his position as top legal counsel at the RNC to take a run at Steele. For some, the biggest knock on Priebus is his relationship to Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and his political operative nephew Henry. Some critics, like right-wing blogger Dan Riehl, see Priebus as a mere stalking horse for Barbour’s presidential pretensions. Also joining Team Priebus is Republican big brain Paul Ryan, who was making calls for the candidate this week. Priebus also has the support of newly elected Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, whose victory over liberal lion Russ Feingold in November was a highlight for the GOP.
Ann Wagner
Ann Wagner jumped into the RNC race early. If she can pull out a victory (or rival Maria Cino), she’ll be the first woman elected to head the RNC. As chairwoman of the Missouri Republican Party, she is credited with turning the state legislature from blue to red, winning statewide races and crucial votes for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004. Coming off those victories, she became the RNC co-chairwoman before Bush appointed her to be ambassador to Luxembourg. In an interview with The Daily Beast Wagner gave a not-so-subtle dig to the chairman she hopes to replace and explained why she'll be better at raising money, "It's not just restoring a certain level of credibility in being good stewards of our donors' investments," she said, "but frankly just going out and making the ask." Wagner is still fighting an uphill battle. She’s got an ally in fellow Missourian, former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.
Maria Cino
Maria Cino, a lobbyist for the pharmaceutical industry and a former Bush administration official, is hoping to ride a number of prominent endorsements to victory in the RNC race. She honed her election skills as political director of Bush's 2000 campaign and later became deputy chair of the RNC, also tasked with political operations. Her work has brought her some powerful friends over the years—she has the backing of former Vice President Dick Cheney and recently scored a coveted endorsement from Speaker of the House John Boehner. It's unclear how much influence outside backing has on the more insular RNC, however. “Cino’s establishment cred could cut both ways,” Politico's Chris Frates wrote after she announced. “As a GOP insider and Pfizer lobbyist, Cino will likely take heat from the Tea Party wing of the party.
Saul Anuzis
Saul Anuzis is no stranger to the RNC race, having lost to Michael Steele in 2009. The former chairman of the Michigan Republican Party remains a GOP heavyweight and is popular with the conservative grassroots. Anuzis has pledged to rededicate the RNC to fundraising, where it's seen an exodus of major donors under Steele. "I think that overall my message is that different circumstances and different challenges require a different chairman," Anuzis told The Daily Beast in a recent interview. "In the last cycle we were looking for a national spokesperson, somebody to be the face and voice of the party, but this cycle we need someone to make the trains run on time and get the money to implement our ground game." Anuzis is still considered an underdog in the race, if a formidable one.
Like The Daily Beast on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for updates all day long.
For inquiries, please contact The Daily Beast at editorial@thedailybeast.com.
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Be A Part of the Oscars Movie <b>News</b> & Movie Reviews | Geo Blog
Do you like reading movie news and movie reviews? All of us without exception love the movies. They allow us to escape into a fantasy world and get away from our everyday realities if only for a while. Sitting in front of the screen at ...
Social Media Goes Viral on Capitol Hill : Roll Call
When Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) decided to run for Minority Leader after Democrats lost the House in November, she wanted to get the news out fast and cast a wide net. So she tweeted it.
And now for some good <b>news</b> « Legal Planet: Environmental Law and <b>...</b>
The San Jose Mercury News reports that fish and birds are responding well to restoration of former salt ponds on the edges of San Francisco Bay to more natural tidal marsh. Continued operation of the salt ponds by Cargill Salt, ...
benchcraft company portland or
Heard, or read, not long ago someone (frmr congresscritter? Brain blank) saying they thought part of the super-partisan hatefulness on Capitol Hill today, compared to say 15 – 20 yrs ago, was that most no longer bring their families with them. Instead they travel home every weekend (also to campaign/raise money/see constituents) and are not around to socialize with each other, therefore never really get to know people in other party. When they had more social contact evenings and weekends, they were less likely to demonize the “other” side the way they do today.
So, living in office because they’re maintaining the family back home, instead of selling the district home and buying/renting in DC, bringing the family and settling them in. Even on $200k, at DC prices, handling 2 mortgages could be difficult.
Not saying I approve; when I took my job in rural Okla and noticed the shiny new (renovated storefront) office had a shower, I had a bad feeling about expectations… As it happened, we opened at height of gas patch boom of the early ’80′s, housing was tought to find, and our new paralegal (we were all new, it was a newly opened office) did live there several weeks til she found an affordable place.
Republican bigwigs vote for a new party chairman Friday. With Michael Steele on the ropes, who’s likely to emerge as top dog? The Daily Beast previews the contenders. Plus, what black Republicans think about Steele.
Republican National Committee members are gathering in Michael Steele’s backyard Friday afternoon, hunkering down in a Maryland hotel to decide the fate of the controversial RNC leader. But the former Maryland lieutenant governor has little reason to feel comfortable, even with the home cooking.
Clockwise, from top left: Maria Cino, Saul Anuzis, Ann Wagner, and Reince Priebus.
According to early vote counts, Steele is on his way out the door. During his two years at the helm of the GOP fundraising machine, the 52-year-old sometime lawyer has been criticized by party elders for turning the RNC into a den of debt and delinquency. Remember that whole West Hollywood sex club fiasco?
Well, the 168 RNC members voting today certainly do. Here are the leading candidates to replace Steele. All are party insiders with deep experience in Republican organizing.
Reince Priebus
Reince Priebus, the Wisconsin Republican Party chairman, likely presents the strongest inside challenge to Steele. In December, Priebus resigned from his position as top legal counsel at the RNC to take a run at Steele. For some, the biggest knock on Priebus is his relationship to Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and his political operative nephew Henry. Some critics, like right-wing blogger Dan Riehl, see Priebus as a mere stalking horse for Barbour’s presidential pretensions. Also joining Team Priebus is Republican big brain Paul Ryan, who was making calls for the candidate this week. Priebus also has the support of newly elected Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, whose victory over liberal lion Russ Feingold in November was a highlight for the GOP.
Ann Wagner
Ann Wagner jumped into the RNC race early. If she can pull out a victory (or rival Maria Cino), she’ll be the first woman elected to head the RNC. As chairwoman of the Missouri Republican Party, she is credited with turning the state legislature from blue to red, winning statewide races and crucial votes for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004. Coming off those victories, she became the RNC co-chairwoman before Bush appointed her to be ambassador to Luxembourg. In an interview with The Daily Beast Wagner gave a not-so-subtle dig to the chairman she hopes to replace and explained why she'll be better at raising money, "It's not just restoring a certain level of credibility in being good stewards of our donors' investments," she said, "but frankly just going out and making the ask." Wagner is still fighting an uphill battle. She’s got an ally in fellow Missourian, former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.
Maria Cino
Maria Cino, a lobbyist for the pharmaceutical industry and a former Bush administration official, is hoping to ride a number of prominent endorsements to victory in the RNC race. She honed her election skills as political director of Bush's 2000 campaign and later became deputy chair of the RNC, also tasked with political operations. Her work has brought her some powerful friends over the years—she has the backing of former Vice President Dick Cheney and recently scored a coveted endorsement from Speaker of the House John Boehner. It's unclear how much influence outside backing has on the more insular RNC, however. “Cino’s establishment cred could cut both ways,” Politico's Chris Frates wrote after she announced. “As a GOP insider and Pfizer lobbyist, Cino will likely take heat from the Tea Party wing of the party.
Saul Anuzis
Saul Anuzis is no stranger to the RNC race, having lost to Michael Steele in 2009. The former chairman of the Michigan Republican Party remains a GOP heavyweight and is popular with the conservative grassroots. Anuzis has pledged to rededicate the RNC to fundraising, where it's seen an exodus of major donors under Steele. "I think that overall my message is that different circumstances and different challenges require a different chairman," Anuzis told The Daily Beast in a recent interview. "In the last cycle we were looking for a national spokesperson, somebody to be the face and voice of the party, but this cycle we need someone to make the trains run on time and get the money to implement our ground game." Anuzis is still considered an underdog in the race, if a formidable one.
Like The Daily Beast on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for updates all day long.
For inquiries, please contact The Daily Beast at editorial@thedailybeast.com.
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Be A Part of the Oscars Movie <b>News</b> & Movie Reviews | Geo Blog
Do you like reading movie news and movie reviews? All of us without exception love the movies. They allow us to escape into a fantasy world and get away from our everyday realities if only for a while. Sitting in front of the screen at ...
Social Media Goes Viral on Capitol Hill : Roll Call
When Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) decided to run for Minority Leader after Democrats lost the House in November, she wanted to get the news out fast and cast a wide net. So she tweeted it.
And now for some good <b>news</b> « Legal Planet: Environmental Law and <b>...</b>
The San Jose Mercury News reports that fish and birds are responding well to restoration of former salt ponds on the edges of San Francisco Bay to more natural tidal marsh. Continued operation of the salt ponds by Cargill Salt, ...
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Be A Part of the Oscars Movie <b>News</b> & Movie Reviews | Geo Blog
Do you like reading movie news and movie reviews? All of us without exception love the movies. They allow us to escape into a fantasy world and get away from our everyday realities if only for a while. Sitting in front of the screen at ...
Social Media Goes Viral on Capitol Hill : Roll Call
When Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) decided to run for Minority Leader after Democrats lost the House in November, she wanted to get the news out fast and cast a wide net. So she tweeted it.
And now for some good <b>news</b> « Legal Planet: Environmental Law and <b>...</b>
The San Jose Mercury News reports that fish and birds are responding well to restoration of former salt ponds on the edges of San Francisco Bay to more natural tidal marsh. Continued operation of the salt ponds by Cargill Salt, ...
benchcraft company portland or
Heard, or read, not long ago someone (frmr congresscritter? Brain blank) saying they thought part of the super-partisan hatefulness on Capitol Hill today, compared to say 15 – 20 yrs ago, was that most no longer bring their families with them. Instead they travel home every weekend (also to campaign/raise money/see constituents) and are not around to socialize with each other, therefore never really get to know people in other party. When they had more social contact evenings and weekends, they were less likely to demonize the “other” side the way they do today.
So, living in office because they’re maintaining the family back home, instead of selling the district home and buying/renting in DC, bringing the family and settling them in. Even on $200k, at DC prices, handling 2 mortgages could be difficult.
Not saying I approve; when I took my job in rural Okla and noticed the shiny new (renovated storefront) office had a shower, I had a bad feeling about expectations… As it happened, we opened at height of gas patch boom of the early ’80′s, housing was tought to find, and our new paralegal (we were all new, it was a newly opened office) did live there several weeks til she found an affordable place.
Republican bigwigs vote for a new party chairman Friday. With Michael Steele on the ropes, who’s likely to emerge as top dog? The Daily Beast previews the contenders. Plus, what black Republicans think about Steele.
Republican National Committee members are gathering in Michael Steele’s backyard Friday afternoon, hunkering down in a Maryland hotel to decide the fate of the controversial RNC leader. But the former Maryland lieutenant governor has little reason to feel comfortable, even with the home cooking.
Clockwise, from top left: Maria Cino, Saul Anuzis, Ann Wagner, and Reince Priebus.
According to early vote counts, Steele is on his way out the door. During his two years at the helm of the GOP fundraising machine, the 52-year-old sometime lawyer has been criticized by party elders for turning the RNC into a den of debt and delinquency. Remember that whole West Hollywood sex club fiasco?
Well, the 168 RNC members voting today certainly do. Here are the leading candidates to replace Steele. All are party insiders with deep experience in Republican organizing.
Reince Priebus
Reince Priebus, the Wisconsin Republican Party chairman, likely presents the strongest inside challenge to Steele. In December, Priebus resigned from his position as top legal counsel at the RNC to take a run at Steele. For some, the biggest knock on Priebus is his relationship to Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and his political operative nephew Henry. Some critics, like right-wing blogger Dan Riehl, see Priebus as a mere stalking horse for Barbour’s presidential pretensions. Also joining Team Priebus is Republican big brain Paul Ryan, who was making calls for the candidate this week. Priebus also has the support of newly elected Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, whose victory over liberal lion Russ Feingold in November was a highlight for the GOP.
Ann Wagner
Ann Wagner jumped into the RNC race early. If she can pull out a victory (or rival Maria Cino), she’ll be the first woman elected to head the RNC. As chairwoman of the Missouri Republican Party, she is credited with turning the state legislature from blue to red, winning statewide races and crucial votes for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004. Coming off those victories, she became the RNC co-chairwoman before Bush appointed her to be ambassador to Luxembourg. In an interview with The Daily Beast Wagner gave a not-so-subtle dig to the chairman she hopes to replace and explained why she'll be better at raising money, "It's not just restoring a certain level of credibility in being good stewards of our donors' investments," she said, "but frankly just going out and making the ask." Wagner is still fighting an uphill battle. She’s got an ally in fellow Missourian, former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.
Maria Cino
Maria Cino, a lobbyist for the pharmaceutical industry and a former Bush administration official, is hoping to ride a number of prominent endorsements to victory in the RNC race. She honed her election skills as political director of Bush's 2000 campaign and later became deputy chair of the RNC, also tasked with political operations. Her work has brought her some powerful friends over the years—she has the backing of former Vice President Dick Cheney and recently scored a coveted endorsement from Speaker of the House John Boehner. It's unclear how much influence outside backing has on the more insular RNC, however. “Cino’s establishment cred could cut both ways,” Politico's Chris Frates wrote after she announced. “As a GOP insider and Pfizer lobbyist, Cino will likely take heat from the Tea Party wing of the party.
Saul Anuzis
Saul Anuzis is no stranger to the RNC race, having lost to Michael Steele in 2009. The former chairman of the Michigan Republican Party remains a GOP heavyweight and is popular with the conservative grassroots. Anuzis has pledged to rededicate the RNC to fundraising, where it's seen an exodus of major donors under Steele. "I think that overall my message is that different circumstances and different challenges require a different chairman," Anuzis told The Daily Beast in a recent interview. "In the last cycle we were looking for a national spokesperson, somebody to be the face and voice of the party, but this cycle we need someone to make the trains run on time and get the money to implement our ground game." Anuzis is still considered an underdog in the race, if a formidable one.
Like The Daily Beast on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for updates all day long.
For inquiries, please contact The Daily Beast at editorial@thedailybeast.com.
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Be A Part of the Oscars Movie <b>News</b> & Movie Reviews | Geo Blog
Do you like reading movie news and movie reviews? All of us without exception love the movies. They allow us to escape into a fantasy world and get away from our everyday realities if only for a while. Sitting in front of the screen at ...
Social Media Goes Viral on Capitol Hill : Roll Call
When Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) decided to run for Minority Leader after Democrats lost the House in November, she wanted to get the news out fast and cast a wide net. So she tweeted it.
And now for some good <b>news</b> « Legal Planet: Environmental Law and <b>...</b>
The San Jose Mercury News reports that fish and birds are responding well to restoration of former salt ponds on the edges of San Francisco Bay to more natural tidal marsh. Continued operation of the salt ponds by Cargill Salt, ...
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Be A Part of the Oscars Movie <b>News</b> & Movie Reviews | Geo Blog
Do you like reading movie news and movie reviews? All of us without exception love the movies. They allow us to escape into a fantasy world and get away from our everyday realities if only for a while. Sitting in front of the screen at ...
Social Media Goes Viral on Capitol Hill : Roll Call
When Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) decided to run for Minority Leader after Democrats lost the House in November, she wanted to get the news out fast and cast a wide net. So she tweeted it.
And now for some good <b>news</b> « Legal Planet: Environmental Law and <b>...</b>
The San Jose Mercury News reports that fish and birds are responding well to restoration of former salt ponds on the edges of San Francisco Bay to more natural tidal marsh. Continued operation of the salt ponds by Cargill Salt, ...
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Be A Part of the Oscars Movie <b>News</b> & Movie Reviews | Geo Blog
Do you like reading movie news and movie reviews? All of us without exception love the movies. They allow us to escape into a fantasy world and get away from our everyday realities if only for a while. Sitting in front of the screen at ...
Social Media Goes Viral on Capitol Hill : Roll Call
When Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) decided to run for Minority Leader after Democrats lost the House in November, she wanted to get the news out fast and cast a wide net. So she tweeted it.
And now for some good <b>news</b> « Legal Planet: Environmental Law and <b>...</b>
The San Jose Mercury News reports that fish and birds are responding well to restoration of former salt ponds on the edges of San Francisco Bay to more natural tidal marsh. Continued operation of the salt ponds by Cargill Salt, ...
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Be A Part of the Oscars Movie <b>News</b> & Movie Reviews | Geo Blog
Do you like reading movie news and movie reviews? All of us without exception love the movies. They allow us to escape into a fantasy world and get away from our everyday realities if only for a while. Sitting in front of the screen at ...
Social Media Goes Viral on Capitol Hill : Roll Call
When Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) decided to run for Minority Leader after Democrats lost the House in November, she wanted to get the news out fast and cast a wide net. So she tweeted it.
And now for some good <b>news</b> « Legal Planet: Environmental Law and <b>...</b>
The San Jose Mercury News reports that fish and birds are responding well to restoration of former salt ponds on the edges of San Francisco Bay to more natural tidal marsh. Continued operation of the salt ponds by Cargill Salt, ...
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Be A Part of the Oscars Movie <b>News</b> & Movie Reviews | Geo Blog
Do you like reading movie news and movie reviews? All of us without exception love the movies. They allow us to escape into a fantasy world and get away from our everyday realities if only for a while. Sitting in front of the screen at ...
Social Media Goes Viral on Capitol Hill : Roll Call
When Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) decided to run for Minority Leader after Democrats lost the House in November, she wanted to get the news out fast and cast a wide net. So she tweeted it.
And now for some good <b>news</b> « Legal Planet: Environmental Law and <b>...</b>
The San Jose Mercury News reports that fish and birds are responding well to restoration of former salt ponds on the edges of San Francisco Bay to more natural tidal marsh. Continued operation of the salt ponds by Cargill Salt, ...
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Despite contentions by its most ardent fans, we all know that professional wrestling is not a real sport. It is instead a highly choreographed imitation of competitive wrestling designed to elicit strong emotional reactions through compelling enactments of real violence between two combatants. But as true competition, pro wrestling is indeed an enterprise, but ultimately a fake.
Professional wrestling has parallels in the world of political commentary. The main feature is Rush Limbaugh, whose brand of entertainment like professional wrestling is designed to elicit strong emotional reactions from his equally ardent fans. Rush Limbaugh is to real, responsible journalism what professional wrestlers are to real sport. His act is calculatedly constructed to deceive the public into thinking there is real meaning and substance behind the doctrines he communicates, but it is a ruse. His fans do however buy the exaggerations and lies as truth. Similarly, fans of professional wrestling regularly claim the sport is "real" like the blogger listed as a link on this article who says that professional wrestlers are the best athletes in the world. People apparently love to be deceived when it affirms their vicarious need to feel empowered in support of their own beliefs and interests.
But of course we must consider that even professional wrestlers themselves do not consider the sport real. On March 3, 2009, David Asman on foxbusiness.com wrote: "We all know that professional wrestling isn't real. I once interviewed "The Rock" and asked him how much of what happens in the ring is rigged. He looked at me like I was an idiot and said: "All of it!"
Another professional wrestler had this to say about fans: "The only thing that scares me about my fans is that they can vote and breed." But he was still willing to take their money. The intelligence of his fan base was no reason to decline the profit he made from a fake sport.
The exact same thing can be said of Limbaugh, whose fan legions call themselves "dittoheads" while fancying themselves the independent thinkers of our generation. Rush insists his dogmatic peregrinations somehow represent America's validated best interests. This willing self-deception is the foundation for the professional sport of political partisanship. If patriotism really is the last refuge of scoundrels, then we should ask why Limbaugh is so regularly seen charging out the back of the wrestling cage in an effort to prove himself the King of all patriots. He is the scoundrel of all scoundrels, the kind of overblown personality pro wrestling fans just love. Hulk Hogan. Stone Cold Steve Austin. These invented personalities have mass appeal to the disenchanted.
His fans do not appear to notice either that Limbaugh has pursued his success selfishly and with an almost disdainful attitude toward his listening audience. He often appears not to trust his own listeners to give an opinion unless they first fawn and grovel before his media throne. At the slightest hint of on-air resistance, Limbaugh's engineer flips the dump button or else Rush begins talking over his callers with disrespectful glee. On the rare occasions when he feels listeners do have a valid point, it is usually to confirm one of his own, self-centered Rush-isms. "You are absolutely correct!" he will bluster, then use the caller's pseudo-wisdom to create more of his own self-aggrandizing propaganda. Thus the wrestler is also ringmaster.
Limbaugh is not above lifting a verbal chair or two to bash heads when the occasional liberal caller is allowed to enter the Limbaugh ring. The topics of these wicked interventions are always chosen carefully to allow Rush to sneak up on the unsuspecting caller halfway through the conversation and smack him in the back with a snappy comment before an impending break in the show. The whole production is choreographed for impact and does not reflect any sort of real dialogue on any subject of consequence. Mostly the show features gross exaggerations of public statements by politicians Limbaugh does not like. Some--in fact most--of these exaggerations qualify as outright lies about the nature and context of what has been said.
Limbaugh's twisted practice of misappropriating quotes and shading truths is so convoluted it almost defies qualitative analysis. But we can see how Limbaugh plays his game in what he had to say about a speech given in Egypt by President Barack Obama, who was seeking to impress upon Muslims around the world that America does not having anything against the Muslim religion as a faith. This is what the President said: "[I]f you actually took the number of Muslim Americans, we'd be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world."
This is how Limbaugh characterized that statement: "Well, that's what Obama said. He went over there and he said that the United States is a Muslim country."
This is a lie. That is not at all what Barack Obama said or what he meant in noting the population of Muslims in America. Obama was fairly representing a fact about the population of Muslims in America as compared to other nations around the world. But Limbaugh ignored that fact in favor of misrepresenting the President's real meaning as a scare tactic to incite his listeners who are coaxed to view all Muslims as potential terrorists. This is not only irresponsible, it is bigoted, dangerous and potentially libelous behavior. Let us note that definition of libel is "anything that is defamatory or that maliciously or damagingly misrepresents." Limbaugh's many distortions of this order are not only potentially libelous, they might even be characterized as a form of treason, which is defined thus, "a violation of allegiance to one's sovereign or to one's state." Of course Limbaugh's criticisms of Obama and others he despises are generally protected the right to free speech as guaranteed under the Consitution. But when free speech damages the legitimate and documented intent of a public official, then the parties responsible should be held legally accountable. Limbaugh regularly and frequently crosses this line.
Limbaugh has also built his career on periodic vicious personal attacks on public figures. These include a very public ridicule of then pre-teenager Chelsea Clinton's physical appearance. That takes real courage and character, does it not? But we cannot legislate good taste, nor is it enforceable in any real sense.
Ironically, Limbaugh claims to be taking the high ground on matters personal and political. He apparently fancies himself a real judge of good character. That would include fawning over former Vice President Dick Cheney. Yet Cheney's support for torture interrogation methods actually qualify him as a potential war criminal. Limbaugh himself dismissed torture methods like waterboarding as harmless, joking that treatments like these were no worse than a fraternity prank. Yet when conservative radio personality Mancow Mueller of Chicago actually subjected himself to waterboarding, he quickly pronounced it a very real form of torture. Limbaugh has shown no such willingness to test his lighthearted theories. He prefers to avoid having any of his ideas or opinions subjected to the scrutiny of truth.
Limbaugh's ugly approach to entertainment includes a barely disguised racist streak and misogyny toward women (especially feminists). Limbaugh reserves particular disdain with anything to do with environmental justice and conservation, no surprise since he seems unable to connect any dots between cause and effect because he appears to doubt the verity of scientific principles such as evolution as well. Limbaugh's world is constructed from a literalistic ether, floating above the real world as if it were deigned to form the upper atmosphere our our collective intellect.
What brings Limbaugh's worldview down to earth is the fact that he is a clownish bigot who does genuine harm in this world by attacking the downtrodden and fawning over the rich. His audience appears to embrace this worldview as the solution to the world's problems. Most cynically, Limbaugh regularly plays the pity card over how difficult his job can be fighting for supposedly conservative politics in the Washington arena. Call it trickle-down cynicism. In that regard he has a truckload of fellow wastrels begging for attention.
Fellow political wrestlers Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham all enjoy the bloodsport of heckle-nomics while they make a closeted fortune preaching "woe is me" politics when they run into any real criticism of their views.
This is an age-old ploy of villains everywhere. They would all fit right in with the personality-driven soap opera of professional wrestling where empathy for the bad guys is dispensed along with mercy for the good.
The conservative medial cabal has a knack for packaging mean-spiritedness as an independent voice for justice. Their carefully orchestrated attempts to win public opinion helps them sell books and get rich. That's what they apparently care most about. The supremely vicious and creepily angry Ann Coulter emerges every six months with a new hate book bearing the world "liberal" in its title. She makes the round of talk shows to please herself and her publishers while the public has to put up with her shrewishly incisive comments. Yet what good has she done for society? Can we point to one positive change proposed by Ann Coulter? Will she conceive of something on the order of the geodesic dome in the manner of Buckminster Fuller, who famously said "You do not belong to you, you belong to the universe," before devoting himself to making the world a better place. One cannot conceive of someone so selfishly mean as Ann Coulter saying anything of such selfless or universal consequence. Coulter would call Fuller a full of crap liberal for such a statement. In truth she's just a mean bitch who fascinates people with her tragically overwrought persona. She'd be perfect for women's professional wrestling, that's for sure.
All these hardscrabble conservative personalities know the most important thing in their careers is to never, ever get into a real, fair fight. Yakker Sean Hannity used the emasculated Alan Colmes as a liberal patsy for his Fox News broadcasts. Colmes played his role all too willingly and no doubt pleased the almost exclusively conservative audience that tuned into Hannity's regular lashing of his hapless rival.
That's how Fox News approaches all its intended subjects. When it comes to real news, Fox News is a fake, just like professional wrestling is fake. Fox News was invented for one purpose only: to market the slanted news of conservatives as "fair and balanced" when in actuality Fox News repackages Republican talking points and snarky conservative opinions as actual news.
Like his brothers and sisters in crime, Rush Limbaugh also hates a fair fight. His methods indicate a genuinely fearful man who would rather stab a man in the back than enter the ring to defend his positions in a real contest of will, wit and truth.
He has not entirely gotten away with this act. Limbaugh's worst nemesis over the years has been political author, comedian and former Air American radio host who regularly skewered Limbaugh's lack of truthfulness in every form of media he could throw at him. Limbaugh and Franken's other frequent target Bill O'Reilly probably heaved a sigh or relief when Franken quit his media gig to run for Senator in Minnesota. And won.
Franken quit the media to actually put his money where his mouth was and run for public office. Unlike Rush Limbaugh, Al Franken really does care what happens to America. Running for Senator in Minnesota was a genuine career risk. Yet Franken, humorist though he be, has ever been a truth-seeker. His liberal credentials flow from wanting to know why things work, and how.
Limbaugh by comparison is decidedly incurious in this area of intellectual endeavor. He thinks he already knows how everything works. But to paraphrase Francis Bacon, "If you should always begin with certainties, you will most often end in doubt." No wonder Rush Limbaugh was a fan of George W. Bush, another man known for his incurably incurious approach to governance.
Limbaugh does not seem like a man who will ever run for election. Instead he seems to prefer his role as political professional wrestler where his ideas are part of the scripted fight against liberalism. Like Ann Coulter and the rest of the conservative cabal, the spoutings of Rush Limbaugh have never produced any real, positive social change. He lives in apparent fear that he should ever have to reconcile his carelessly constructed web of lies to reality.
Secretly he seems embittered by this fact, apparently aware he has already been exposed as a charlatan and fake. His personal life turned out to be a massive mess of illegal drugs and deception. That is why he clings to his fans in a love/hate relationship that seems to drive him increasingly mad with fervor. He is like an amalgam of the opium-smoking worm and Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland. Supremely self-possessed and crazy as a loon.
For these reasons Limbaugh can no longer even afford to try represent the truth. It is not in his nature. Instead he blathers on about his political prejudices even as he struggles with an off-the scale insecurity.
Limbaugh is a professional wrestler past his prime and pitifully adorned in royal robes, thick in the middle and even thicker in the head. He knows is time is short, and that is why he yells so loud. There is a fine line between demanding attention and expressing your worst fears in public. In Limbaugh's case those fears center on being discredited and ultimately ignored.
From there it is a short trip to the B circuit of political pro wrestling, where even the winners are losers once they leave the ring.
big seminar 14
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big seminar 14
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